monti eating nudis

[jeffbrig]

A coral I recently bought ended up with some of these on it. For those who haven't dealth with this pest yet, I thought it would be worth sharing some pictures so you know what you're looking for.

Here's the colony I bought ~2 months ago.

I first noticed a little bit of pale tissue at the bottom shaded edge of the colony a few days ago. I thought it might be from the low light in that area, so I waited a couple of days. Today I noticed missing tissue, so I pulled out the macro lens to investigate. Yep, nudis confirmed.

There are at least 10 adults in this picture

Here's a closer shot. The metal is the end of a small safety pin. The frilly looking blob I'm pointing at is the nudi. Note the tiny egg sacs on the right side in the crevice.

Next I went with a super-macro lens combo for a few shots. For size reference, the hole in the coral skeleton towards the top of the frame is where a polyp used to be.

Ugly little things, aren't they?

Wow...eggs EVERYWHERE (closeup in the crevice)

If anyone is interested, I could keep these alive for the next few days and bring them to the meeting for show & tell while water testing is going on. I think it's helpful for people to see these in person to understand how tricky they can be to spot.

 

[compulou]

WOW Jeff thanks for sharing dude!!! Is this in a quarentine tank or in your actualy display?

 

[gasman059]

Jeff I saw them at the SPS forum. COOL PICS.
I'm afraid to take a closer look at my tank LOL. I've never had them but knowing how specific and careful u are about your tank, I dont rule them out yet. I'm pulling my flashlight as we speak LOL.
Me I'm not as brave as you are that piece would be in the lake as bass food.

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9967911#post9967911 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by compulou
WOW Jeff thanks for sharing dude!!! Is this in a quarentine tank or in your actualy display?

Unfortunately, this piece was in my display, so I'm crossing my fingers that they didn't spread off of this colony.

 

[ek9vboi]

Bring it to the meet Jeff, I would really like to look at it in person. I've recently just gotten into montis and love them./

 

[Fish2reef]

Thank you for sharing this information will definitely help me, these are the best pictures of this nudis I have seen in the net.

 

[truth954]

Thanks for sharing the pics aswell, would def. love to see these buggers in person.
Gerald

 

[A.T.T.R]

jeff pm me with the store you got that at. cause if its where i think m going to try to talk them out of using that vendor ( i got them also from a piece that has the same type of base.. probobly fromt he same mariculture)

 

[gasman059]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9971140#post9971140 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A.T.T.R
jeff pm me with the store you got that at. cause if its where i think m going to try to talk them out of using that vendor ( i got them also from a piece that has the same type of base.. probobly fromt he same mariculture)

Buddy it truly does not matter which LFS.
They all have it at some point or another- I believe its our responsibility to dip/qt/inspect prior to display.
Its just the nature of the beast.
BTW if it happened to Jeff ( remember he took down his 250 secondary to ICH) it can happen to anybody.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

I had them too, I used TMPCC and I think I got rid of them. During my research I read that Tetra Ooomed was used by some people with success, but it cannot be bought in the US anymore. I just came back from Germany and bought some Tetra MarinOopharm, the only thing I could find. Not sure if it's the same....

 

[Rogger Castells]

Thanks for the pics Jeff, I would love to get some of those buggers alive to try some experiments, Do you think I can get some live specimens?

 

[jeffbrig]

Rogger, you're more than welcome to some of them. Trade you for the co2 tank?

I'll give you a call tomorrow, see if we can get together sometime.

 

[Rogger Castells]

Thanks.

 

[A.T.T.R]

lol it dosnt matter what lfs. but it matters the original source.
i know of 3 store that carry that maricultured companys coral.. would be nice to see 0 of them carry it

 

[jeffbrig]

The only problem is, from what I've heard, that type of frag mount is used by multiple mariculture suppliers overseas. I'm going to mention this to the LFS where I picked up this piece, and see if they're hearing the same problem from others. I'm not sure I'd encourage them to toss the supplier, either. Some of the best acros I've bought locally came on identical mounts.

I don't blame the LFS at all. I hesitate to name the store, because they don't deserve the negative attention that would generate. I inspected the piece before and after I bought it, and I didn't see anything wrong with it. Clearly there were some eggs that I could not see. I'm borderline psychotic about dipping and checking things before they go in my tank, and I missed it. Why would I expect them to find it if I couldn't?

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9972548#post9972548 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A.T.T.R
lol it dosnt matter what lfs. but it matters the original source.
i know of 3 store that carry that maricultured companys coral.. would be nice to see 0 of them carry it

Unfortunately that will not fix anything either, the biggest issue with all mariculture pieces is the lack of natural predators at the places were they are kept prior to been shipped oversees, this lack of predation allows naturally existent pest to multiply freely thus becoming deadly pest, however, this could be the case with a totally healthy looking wild piece three months down the road in your tank.
There are other things that will aggravate the problem even more, this include lack of knowledge, water parameters, lack of good preventative practices such as dipping, examining with a good magnifying glass, brushing & clipping etc.
This practices need to become part of your regular chores when you buy a coral because in the end your are the one that will loose the most, as much as I would like to blame someone else for everything bad that happens in my tank, ultimately I am the one responsible to ensure the survival of this animals.

 

[jeffbrig]

FWIW, I dipped, inspected with a magnifying glass, then took a veggie scrub brush to the base of this piece. Still not good enough.

I'm convinced that the safest option is to break the colony off the base and re-attach it to a clean piece of rock. Most of the bad hitchikers would be attched to dead portions of the coral, or the rock base. By cutting and keeping only portions of the coral covered in healthy tissue, the risk of introducing something unwanted is reduced. Along with FWE, interceptor, and an iodine dip, this is about as safe as one could be.

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9972867#post9972867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
FWIW, I dipped, inspected with a magnifying glass, then took a veggie scrub brush to the base of this piece. Still not good enough.

I'm convinced that the safest option is to break the colony off the base and re-attach it to a clean piece of rock. Most of the bad hitchikers would be attched to dead portions of the coral, or the rock base. By cutting and keeping only portions of the coral covered in healthy tissue, the risk of introducing something unwanted is reduced. Along with FWE, interceptor, and an iodine dip, this is about as safe as one could be.

I agree, notice that I have clipping as part of the chores. I practice this with success

 

[tooshay]

Be aware that they can hitch hike into your tanks on other corals. A friend discovered them on her caps and she hadn't added a single montipora to the tank for months! I had good luck dipping every monti in a Levamisole every week for 4 weeks and leaving the tank montipora-less to allow the nudis to die from starvation.

 

[gasman059]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9972847#post9972847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rogger Castells
Unfortunately that will not fix anything either, the biggest issue with all mariculture pieces is the lack of natural predators at the places were they are kept prior to been shipped oversees, this lack of predation allows naturally existent pest to multiply freely thus becoming deadly pest, however, this could be the case with a totally healthy looking wild piece three months down the road in your tank.
There are other things that will aggravate the problem even more, this include lack of knowledge, water parameters, lack of good preventative practices such as dipping, examining with a good magnifying glass, brushing & clipping etc.
This practices need to become part of your regular chores when you buy a coral because in the end your are the one that will loose the most, as much as I would like to blame someone else for everything bad that happens in my tank, ultimately I am the one responsible to ensure the survival of this animals.

well said Hillary-prodigy